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Community Helper Post Office Writing Center for Preschool

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Fall is the perfect time to introduce community helpers to a preschool classroom. During the month of October the boys and girls learn about fire safety and prevention. At this time they may also have a visit from fire and rescue as well. It makes sense to also discuss police officers, doctors, trash collectors, mail carriers and other important community helpers.

The unit usually lasts 6-7 days and there is never enough time to spend a day on each helper. That is why I love to use play center time to keep learning going. In this post you will see what I add to my writing center to turn it into a post office.

The writing center has been our favorite area for several weeks. Some staples that I always keep in our writing center are:

Writing Tools

crayons

markers

colored pencils

gel pens

smelly markers

pens

chalk

pencils

Dry erase markers

Paper

post its

index cards

scrap paper

cardboard

cardstock

paper with lines

grid paper

large notebooks

journals

mini notebooks

scrapbook paper

Extras

stamp pads

ABC stickers

stickers

ABC stamps

seasonal stamps

stencils

whiteboard

clipboards

scotch tape

colored tape

stapler (large and mini)

paper puncher

binder rings etc

The writing center is usually pretty stocked, so it was simple to add a few things to make it into a post office.

The first item I added to the center was a mailbox for our friends. I took a 9 by 12 sheet of paper and folded it in half and stapled the sides. Then, I wrote each child's name on the front. I attached it to the wall using sticky putty. This simple addition will help the boys and girls work on name identification of themselves and friends. When the boys and girls are looking for a friends mailbox, I will give her a clue like "Max's name starts with the letter M." Each day the children can check their mailbox and take their mail home.

Another simple addition were these picture name tags and magnetic letters. I used pictures of people close to us. If the boys and girls want to write someone's name on a card they can pull the card off the board and use it as a model to try to write some of the letters.

I also added a large mailbox and mini mailboxes for the boys and girls to practice being a mail carrier. The boys and girls choose an envelope, count the total number of dots on the envelope and place it into the mailbox with the matching number.

To complete the Post Office I added a sign and some materials specific to the post office.

envelopes

post cards

birthday party invites

old valentine and Christmas cards

paper folded over to look like a card

die cut animals and shapes

stickers shaped like stamps

An easy way to obtain materials for your post office is to ask parents to send materials like the ones listed above. I was able to find a lot of the materials at the dollar store.